Victor Mitchell, Lead Funding CEO and Life-long Entrepreneur, Offers 8 Ways to Be More Productive

Productivity is the heart of any great entrepreneurship journey. Getting more done, on the right things, in shorter time periods marks you as someone who goes above and beyond. However, contrary to popular belief this is not something that everyone does naturally. It takes understanding what the core tenets of productivity are and how to harness them in your life. If you don’t have time to sit down for hours at a time with tomes from the likes of Peter Drucker and other management authors, consume the following eight easy ways to start being more productive today.

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1. Defining Your Goals

You can’t hit a target that you don’t set in the first place. Far too many entrepreneurs make the mistake of confusing busy work with productivity. Having no time in your schedule doesn’t make you a hero. Getting the right things done does. If you don’t define what these “right things” are from the start, you risk running around in circles. Instead, create 12-, six-, and three-month timelines with specific goals for you personally and your company. Then, create a system to track these goals and hold yourself accountable. Before you know it, you will start finding ways to get these goals done more often and faster than ever before. There’s a certain magic in writing something down.

2. Hiring the Right Team

You are only as good as the weakest link on your team. That is why it is crucial to hire the best people you can find. Sometimes, you might have to pay a little more than you planned to a get a quality employee on-board. But over time, it will probably pay off.

3. Automating Work

The last thing you want is to do repetitive work in your company. If someone can write a script to automate it, then you should opt for this every time. It might take some getting used to at first while you manage the details of creating automation protocols, but they will save you time in the long run and pay you back tenfold in the future.

4. Having Fewer Meetings

Meetings might seem like a smart idea at first. However, in reality, they are not. But while the sessions might not be ideal if overdone, they are perfect in small doses. Instead of holding meetings every day, cut them back to once per week.

5. Be an Early Riser

Getting up early can make you more productive. Instead of feeling drowsy by the time you roll into the office, you feel like you are ready to take on the world. Besides, if you can sneak in some professional development time before you clock in, it is likely that you will not have to rely on pure willpower to do the same thing at the end of the day.

6. Cut Email for Other Apps

Email is known as a significant time killer in the corporate world. Still, people use it every day and often rely on it as a critical way to get their message across to their team. The problem with email is not that it’s not useful, but that it gets abused. You can use Slack and other chat platforms if the goal is rapid communication back and forth. Otherwise, keep email to a short and straightforward format for must-know information.

7. Get Outside Help

Don’t be afraid to have someone else from outside your company come in and give you advice on how to improve it. A consultant is an excellent way to get another view about your problems and see if there is a solution that you have not tried yet. They can provide fresh ideas, find unnecessary elements in your systems that you need to cut out, thereby increasing productivity substantially.

8. Take Time Off

Every entrepreneur needs to take time off eventually. This is true even if you feel like you are behind. There is an absolute false economy in working more hours than your body can handle. You might feel like you are getting ahead at first. However, in the end, your lack of sleep and focus will catch up with you as it does to everyone.

Only the top people will take the time it requires to be more productive than their peers. However, out of those that do, a higher percentage will find success. If you want more prosperity and more freedom, then don’t let productivity be a variable in your success. Make it a constant. Make it something that gives you pride, strength, and motivation for a brighter future both in your personal life and professional world.

About Victor Mitchell:

A serial entrepreneur, Victor Mitchell has successfully founded, acquired, and/or turned around numerous diverse business ventures over the past 30 years. His ventures include interests in finance, transportation, communications, technology, building supplies, real estate development and brokerage services.

Victor Mitchell is the founder and CEO of Lead Funding, a specialty lending organization that provides innovative private financing solutions for homebuilders and developers, reducing their red tape and speeding up loan decisions.